Tom Roper's Weblog

A bumper press day for public libraries

The Independent runs an article and a leader:
Children's Laureate says libraries are guilty of letting down young readers
An enduring Victorian value
In the former, Jacqueline Wilson, once more the most-borrowed author in the Public Lending Right statistics, says,
"It just seems very sad that there isn't the tradition of having classic authors so that a browsing reader who doesn't know what they're doing can discover the great works of literature that I feel is the reason that libraries are there. When I was a child in the 1950s I went to the library as a matter of course because that was your only source of good reading matter."
From the latter: " So long as knowledge and stories are put into written form, the libraries will have a place. They're the last things that should be cut as the iron bonds of public expenditure are tightened."

And the Institute of Ideas have made the proposition,"books should remain the essence of public libraries" a topic in their Debating Matters competition they run jointly with Pfizer. There's a page full of resources for both sides at: http://www.debatingmatters.com/C2B/document_tree/ViewACategory.asp?CategoryID=173

Idox and TFPL

Idox, who bought TFPL recruitment a year ago, are to dispose of it, saying that it is, “just not a good fit", I read in Information World Review. The TFPL blog gives the official version.
When, exactly, did enlightenment strike in the Idox board room, I wonder? How did an information industry recruitment agency change from being an attractive proposition, to an unnecessary frippery? Surely the days of predatory asset stripping have not returned? I think this news will set off a shake up among recruitment agencies generally. They offer nothing to candidates, and precious little to employers. I have heard CILIP’s own agency INFOMatch defended on the grounds that it brings income into the organisation. So too would a chain of massage-parlours or betting-shops. However, CILIP’s recent financial difficulties were blamed, at least in part, on a downturn in the recruitment market and INFOMatch's consequent failure to bring in the expected money. Interest declared: I am a former, dissatisfied, client of TFPL, and other recruitment agencies.

PS. CILIP's Library and Information Gazette runs a front-page article on the library and information recruitment "industry", though the text is not online. Why ever not? It is symptomatic of my professional organisation's half-hearted approach to using the web. "Quality, experienced candidates are at a premium". says the spokesman for one agency, 'there are jobs available in fields such as executive search and professional services at junior level which we are struggling to fill".
The lesson of the past nine months is that I am clearly not a "quality experienced candidate". The article also suggests that jobs suitable for newly qualified staff are being outsourced to India, with a consequent effect on the supply of candidates for more senior posts.
The article fails to mention the sale of TFPL at all. I suppose it went to bed before the news was known.

Technorati Tags: idox, jobsearch, outsourcing, tfpl

Diary of a nobody

...or further thoughts about the Lebrecht programme, though now ancient history. But I still want to give my reactions to parts of the programme.

Sandown

I'm leaving the Agfa Hurdle well alone.
For the rest:
135: Bohemian Spirit
240: New Little Bric
315: Verasi
350: Flintoff

Language networks

Jill Kempshall of UWE, having read my column in the CILIP gazette (not online, I'm afraid) contacted me to point out that there is a network of language specialists, the West European Language Studies Library and Information Network (WESLINE), an umbrella group for specialist language groups such as ACLAIIR (Advisory Council of Latin American and Iberian Information Resources), the French Studies Library Group, the German Studies Library Group and the Italian Studies Library Group.
Some of their websites are in need of updating, but there are some useful resources nevertheless.